MAC WALKER'S BENGHAZI: The Complete Collection by D. W. Ulsterman Page A

afford to be throwing the baby out with the bathwater Mac.”
    Mac was heading back to the Benina airport. With all of the matching U.N. vans located there, they would be able to blend in enough to buy them just a little more time – enough time for him to decide whether or not to risk reaching out to Tilley for help.
    The airport security remained as non-existent as when they had left it. Mac simply drove past the gates and into the primary facility area, parking the van next to a row of three other identical vans.
    “What do you think Jack ? Do I give Tilley a call?”
    Jack remained motionless in the back seat, his eyes closed as he focused on his breathing as Mac waited patiently for a response. Finally Jack opened his eyes and offered a thin smile back at Mac.
    “We don’t have much choice at this point Mac. The way I see it, either you call him, or I will. He’s our best shot right now of getting out of this shithole.”
    Mac didn’t take Jack’s words as a sign of disrespect. In fact, they were just the opposite. They cleared Mac’s head of options, and made the decision a simple one – he had no choice but to reach out to Tilley. Mac took out his cell and dialed Tilley’s direct contact number, the one used only for assignment emergencies.
    Tilley picked up the call on the second ring.
    “What’s wrong? This seems early for a check in.”
    Mac paused as he considered his words carefully.
    “We’ve been compromised. The Italian contact was bad. No safe house available.”
    Now it was Tilley’s turn to pause. Mac waited him out, staying silent as well.
    “Any casualties?”
    “Affirmative – but the team is fine.”
    Mac could sense Tilley’s indecision over the phone.
    “Ok…give me thirty minutes. Hold on and call me again in thirty minutes.”
    Tilley hung up, leaving Mac to wonder what Tilley could come up with in thirty minutes that would bail his team out of a situation thousands of miles away in Benghazi, Libya.
    “What did he say Mac?”
    Mac looked over at Minnick, who was calmly cleaning his glasses as he asked the question.
    “He said he wanted me to call him back in thirty minutes.”
    Minnick’s brow furrowed as he considered Mac’s words.
    “Why have us wait thirty minutes? Why doesn’t he call as soon as he has an option in place for us?”
    Minnick said what Mac had been thinking. Tilley’s response felt like a stall. Mac had intentionally avoided telling him their current location. Tilley was smart though, smart enough to guess that Mac would return their van to the location that offered them the most cover – the airport.
    Mac’s eyes scanned the vehicles around them. A plane similar to the one they had arrived in was preparing for take off no more than a hundred yards from where they were parked. In just a couple more hours, the place would be crawling with people as the day’s business was fully underway. The bodies of the five men and Angelo had likely already been discovered. The van that had been left in the street was the same one they were sitting in now. They were common to this airport. That meant it would be the first place the authorities would go looking.
    They needed to move.
    “Ok, you three stay put. I’m gonna find us different transportation.”
    Mac left the van, walking between vehicles as he searched for one that would allow them to drive into the main part of the city undetected, something without a United Nations badge on it. Some three hundred feet inside the airport’s main entrance, Mac spotted four empty taxis parked alongside a row of white single wide trailers. The vehicles were basic black four door sedans with the words “Benghazi Comfort Taxi” prominently displayed on each side. Mac figured if there were already four of the taxis parked here this early in the morning, the city streets would be teeming with them within the hour.
    The first taxi was locked, as was the second. The driver’s door of the third taxi opened and Mac spotted a